


Promises

by Jathis



Category: Welcome to Night Vale
Genre: Father-Son Relationship, Fatherhood, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Native American Character(s), Native Earl
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-09
Updated: 2015-05-09
Packaged: 2018-03-29 18:42:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 367
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3906685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jathis/pseuds/Jathis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Roger worries about his father.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Promises

Work at the restaurant had been exhausting yet again. There had been an uprising in the kitchen led by the turnips, a bloody mess that had killed a line cook. In the end Earl had been forced to spend most of his shift executing the leaders to keep the rest in line again.

When Earl came home he flopped onto the couch, too tired to even make an attempt to kick off his shoes. He would do that later, when his limbs weren’t aching. He considered moving his eyepatch over his good eye to block out the light but then dismissed this as too much work. He closed his eye and relaxed, soon falling asleep.

He was woken up by the sensation of someone touching his hands, lifting them up. He cracked his eye open, smiling as he watched his son Roger looking over his hands with a serious expression on his face. “My fingers are all there,” he promised. “The ones I had left anyway,” he added, flexing the hand with only three.

He sat up when Roger let go and he smiled, making room for him on the couch. “You know you don’t have to worry about me, right?” he asked, signing the words as he said them.

*I know,* Roger signed back, *but I still do. Lots of kids at school lost one or both of their parents. Some don’t have any family at all and live alone in their houses.*

“I won’t let that happen.”

*What will happen if you lose more fingers? Or your whole hand? Or your other eye?*

“I’ll find a way to keep working. I don’t plan on letting anything else happen to me,” Earl whispered. He watched as Roger processed this information, idly adjusting the boy’s straight braid.

*You were taken away once…before I was born. People still talk about it. You almost died.*

“Come here,” he finally said, pulling Roger into his arms. The pair hugged each other tightly and Earl smiled, pressing a kiss to Roger’s forehead. “I promise that nothing bad will happen to me again. Not when I have you to look after, okay?”

Roger could only nod, refusing to let Earl go.


End file.
